Site Mobile Navigation

Interesting Facts About Marijuana as a Sleep Aid

Date Published:

September 14th, 2017

As cannabis growers, it’s empowering to be able to provide our customers with high-quality marijuana that offers a cornucopia of benefits to their lives. One that we often hear about is our cannabis’s ability to act as a potent sleep aid. People who suffer from insomnia commonly consume indica cannabis before bed to promote relaxation and help them sleep (for an extensive overview of the differences between indica and sativa, read our previous blog here). Even the most sleep-deprived can often find relief after smoking some marijuana. While you may be familiar with marijuana’s role as a sleep aid, you may not know some of these interesting facts which we have outlined below.

The older marijuana is, the sleepier it will make you.

You may not realize this, but the older your pot is, the easier it will make you sleep. This is because over time, the THC in cannabis degrades, converting to cannabinol, or CBN. This is a highly effective sedating chemical. If you are using marijuana as a sleep aid, you may find it advantageous to buy it in larger quantities, ensuring that you keep it for longer and the THC has time to degrade into CBN.

You can enhance the sleepy effects of cannabis.

Cannabis alone can help you sleep; however, its properties are more enhanced by certain natural sleep remedies. For example, lavender and chamomile are both infamous for their calming properties; paired with the CBN in marijuana, and sleep is within your reach. Try relaxing in a lavender bath or sipping a steaming cup of chamomile tea with your bedtime bowl.

Cannabis inhibits dreaming.

Have you ever noticed that after smoking before bed, you don’t remember dreaming? There is a scientific reason for this. Cannabis reduces the amount of time you spend in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is the sleep stage during which you dream. This means that you are likely to either have less memorable dreams or not dream at all when you consume marijuana right before bed.

Marijuana may help with sleep apnea.

Recent research shows that cannabis may improve breathing during sleep. Sleep apnea is a condition that is characterized by obstructed breathing when sleeping. Sleep apnea has many unfortunate side effects, such as fatigue, headaches, low mood, difficulty concentrating, and other health concerns. Consuming marijuana before bed, whether through smoke, vape, or an edible, may help those with sleep apnea get a better night’s rest.

For best results, you want more THC than CBD in your strain.

You may already gravitate towards strains with more THC because in general, the more THC present in marijuana, the more potent the high. CBD, another component of marijuana, has powerful pain-relief properties but does not give you that high feeling of THC. There is also research to suggest that you should gravitate away from high-CBD strains when looking for a sleep aid. In 2006, one study found that when lights were on, CBD increased awakeness; when the lights were off, it had no impact either way on sleep. CBD is better for people who experience chronic fatigue or daytime sleepiness. When you are looking for a strain to smoke or vape before bed, look for one with high THC and low CBD.

When you are looking for cannabis to use as a sleep aid, consider one of our relaxing marijuana blunts. We use natural practices when growing our cannabis to ensure that you get the most potent, clean pot possible. Shop The District 8 today!